Feedback from A&E and reflective practice

Have you ever found yourself wondering, ‘What happened with that patient that I took to hospital?’, ‘How are they doing?’ or ‘Did I do the right thing?’.

I often chase down the busy triage nurses in accident and emergency (A&E) to find out how my patients from earlier that shift are doing. Were they discharged? Was it a myocardial infarction? Did the bag of fluids I gave help their blood pressure? I'm always keen to find out if I did the right thing or – in all honesty – whether I have done anything wrong, so that I don't make a similar mistake again. It can be personally frustrating if for some reason I can't ‘scratch that itch’ so to speak – especially for the more complex patients or the rarer presentations. It is this desire to learn more that led me to start my journey towards a master's degree, which has introduced me to concepts that underpin the clinical decision-making we use as professionals.